Colorado residents attending state colleges and universities could be socked with tuition increases of up to 9½ percent next fall.
The legislature's Joint Budget Committee included that recommendation Friday in the draft of the annual state spending bill.
Students at the four research schools -- the University of Colorado, Colorado State University, the University of Northern Colorado and the Colorado School of Mines -- would see increases of up to 9½ percent.
Other four-year schools -- such as Metropolitan State College -- would see increases of up to 7½ percent, while the increases at the community colleges would be capped at 5½ percent.
But the budget committee recommendation also would cap increases for the neediest students at 5 percent and would add $9 million of additional funds for financial aid and work-study grants.
Increases for graduate students and non-resident undergraduates would not be capped under the proposal.
The six-member JBC could still revise the draft before it is introduced in the House of Representatives on March 24.
The House or the Senate also could make changes.
The increases still would have to be adopted by each school's governing boards, which could raise tuition by lesser amounts.
Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, said the tuition increase is needed because the state can't afford to raise direct support for higher education.
Without more money, schools will have to cut programs.
"There's a lot of talk about keeping tuition down," said Pommer, who made the motion to raise tuition. "The question is, keeping tuition for what down?
"If you destroy the university so you're not charging much tuition ... you're not getting much of an education, either."
Colorado tuition will still fall below the average of comparable institutions in other states, Pommer said.
Gov. Bill Ritter and the Colorado Commission on Higher Education had sought increases that topped out at 9 percent.
Blake Gibson, a leader of Associated Students of Colorado, said he understands the financial bind Colorado universities are in.
But, he warned, students are being priced out of higher education.
Students at many Colorado schools saw double digit tuition increases last year, said Gibson, a CSU sophomore.
"Like anything else, there's kind of a point where it just becomes too much," Gibson said. The increases add to the heavy debt burden many students carry, he said.
Along with the higher tuition, the JBC voted to increase higher education funding by more than $60 million, including the additions to financial aid.
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